Indians 9, Royals 3: 11 Walk-Off Thoughts on finally muscling one out, a baseball headed to Cuba, a hot streak while venting and some pop at the top of the lineup

Wednesday

Sep 5, 2018 at 12:16 AM

Here are 11 Walk-Off Thoughts after the Indians’ 9-3 win over the Kansas City Royals Tuesday night.

1. Everyone in the clubhouse knew it eventually had to happen. It had to, right? The guy with the biggest biceps in baseball hadn’t muscled one out in 69 games. It wasn’t nice. His exit velocities were terrific. He was pounding the ball, just not in the air. But, at some point, it just had to happen. Right? Right!? It had to, one would think.

2. It finally did Tuesday night. Yandy Diaz went yard. He slugged his first career home run, a solo shot to center field off Royals reliever Jake Newberry. As it sailed toward its destination over the wall, someone in the press box quipped, ‘Is this it!?’ Diaz didn’t think it was out until it was, in fact, out, and he had home run No. 1. Finally.

3. ”Not really, I didn't think [it felt good off the bat]. I thought it was a flyout to center because I really didn't make good contact,” Diaz said through a team translator. “But the ball carried pretty well, so it got out.”

4. Diaz smiled nearly the entire time he rounded the bases. He couldn’t help it. Everyone was waiting for the guy who looks like he could bench press half the stadium to hit one out. He just hadn’t elevated the right ball until now. Missiles were sent all around Progressive Field, but they all landed in the outfield grass.

5. “We’ve been waiting on that, especially with those biceps,” Mike Clevinger said. “I think everybody has. He’s been hitting the ball, even in BP, 120 miles an hour in the air. So it’s the same thing for him. Progressing. Getting through the ball better. Getting that lift, that backspin. It’s starting to come around for him. Even that last AB, he almost put another one out.”

6. Now with a home run under his belt, Diaz thought he had a second later on, but that turned into an RBI triple and left him a double shy of the cycle. Said Diaz: “When I was running around, I said, 'Oh, wow. I got it again,’ but then when I saw the ball fall. When I saw the ball hit the ground I didn't know what to do, so I just kept running.”

7. Diaz in the past has worked to make sure his mother, who is in Cuba, could watch him play on TV. It hasn’t always been exactly easy. Now, he said he’ll be trying to send her a very special baseball.

8. Diaz is trying to make his case to be on the postseason roster and is doing a pretty solid job. He’s now hitting .333 this season and has at least one hit in 11 of his 14 starts. When configuring the postseason roster, Diaz would be one of the last guys named among the 25, with candidates Rajai Davis, Greg Allen (technically even Jason Kipnis, to be thorough, but it would be extremely hard to imagine him being left off entirely even in the middle of a slump) as outfielders or for speed purposes off the bench and Erik Gonzalez as a utility infielder. He’s built a solid case thus far, even while on having a clear path to much beyond pinch-hitting duties.

9. Speaking of making their cases, Jason Kipnis went 2-for-4 with two RBI and is now hitting .400 over his past nine games with six extra-base hits, 10 RBI and six runs scored. That’s the right way to vent about a frustrating situation.

10. Francisco Lindor belted HR No. 31 for the season to lead off the first inning Tuesday night. It was his sixth lead-off homer, which has him tied with Houston’s George Springer for the most in the American League this year. It also puts him one off the franchise record for lead-off home runs in a single season, when Grady Sizemore hit seven in 2008. (Remember when Grady Sizemore was in the Home Run Derby?) Ramirez has been the most productive hitter on the team. Lindor has set the tone at the top of the lineup. It’s how the Indians have drawn it up, and Lindor has continued to deliver.

11. “It gives us 1-0. I actually think, not just the homers, a lot times his at-bats kinda take on—sometimes he’ll go up there and he’ll chase a breaking ball in the dirt or something and it seems like other guys start to, too,” manager Terry Francona said. “We seem to take our cue from him, so I’d say for the most part, that’s a really good thing.”

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